


Darling, I'm not going to hurt you.

by wilde_in_her_eyes



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Boggarts, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Gen, Horror, Redrum
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:08:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24812089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wilde_in_her_eyes/pseuds/wilde_in_her_eyes
Summary: Megan Jones, was aware of Boggarts, certainly.But after a summer of binge watching horror movies, she wasn't quite aware of what could happen.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21





	Darling, I'm not going to hurt you.

It was a surprisingly cold morning the day Megan Jones started her first DADA lesson of her third year. Surely this early in September It would still be warmish, but the cold was nipping at her heals like it had forgotten what she tasted like over the summer holidays.

Stumbling into class, the Hufflepuff was surprised to see she was one of the last ones there. Hannah shot her an apologetic look from the front as Megan shuffled to the back. Finding an empty seat, she sat down, and couldn’t help overhearing the comments Malfoy and his goons were making from the front.

“I heard this year it’s going to be even worse. Some old homeless man they picked off the- ”

“Welcome, welcome.” A slightly shabby, older looking man walked through the door, causing the classroom to hush, and thankfully shut the prat up. Malfoy had been particularly vocal after scratching his arm, though you’d think it was broken the way he carried on. “Can I please ask that you move all the desks to the back? Thank you.”

The groaning and squeaking of both the chairs and students was quickly drowned out by the large closet the new Defence teacher brought into the room. Or more specifically, the large rattling noise it made.

“Good morning all, I’ll be your new teacher Professor Lupin, and behind me- ” _Thunk_. “-I have a magical creature in this closet. Would anyone like to venture a guess as to what is inside?”

The closet rattled ominously, as if what it contained knew it was being spoken about.

“That’s a Boggart.”

“Very good Mr Thomas. Now can anyone tell me…”

Megan couldn’t concentrate on what he said next. She’d heard about Boggarts in her first year, a fourth year was teasing a couple of boys from Gryffindor.

“They turn into your worst nightmare, and then kill you before disappearing back into the dark.” He’d said, laughing as they’d ran away in terror. Megan had then spent a good long while thinking about what her Boggart could possibly turn into.

“Riddikulus!” Jolted out of her own thoughts, Megan quickly repeated it under her breath.

“Riddikulus. Riddikulus.” Trying to calm her own racing heart, she crept backwards from the closet.

Professor Lupin had coaxed Neville Longbottom, the shy kid from Gryffindor, up to face the Boggart. Megan couldn’t help but move further back away from the other kids when he said that Professor Snape was his biggest fear. Hadn’t Susie said his parents had been murdered or something? Snape really was a bloody prick.

She couldn’t help but laugh though when she could just see the top of Professor Snape’s head be covered by an old, dusty bird hat, before hurrying to the back of the line that Professor Lupin instructed them into.

Hearing muffled snorts and giggles as the students went through their Boggarts (Harry Potter’s was a Dementor, she couldn’t help but shiver as that one went through) Megan thought about what hers might be.

A snake or mummy, like one of the twins? No, she’d never really been a fan of either, but neither were her biggest fear.

Maybe her whole family dead or something? That’d be more sad then scary really, and she didn’t spend nights up terrified of that.

In fact, the only thing she’d ever had several nightmares about had been-

No. Nooooo no no no. Surely not.

Didn’t the Boggart have to turn into a real thing? Snakes and spiders were real right? But surely this didn’t count, she couldn’t see it again.

Thinking back, Megan remembered her brother’s face as he’d said there was no harm in watching horror movies. Her older, muggle brother who’d never have to face a Boggart in his life.

The two of them had gone through Dad’s collection, Alien, Exorcist, Jaws, Halloween, Thing.

But one had stuck, not because of the horrible monster, but because of how insane it had been. She’d cried after watching it.

She’d heard that Stephen King had a talent for horror.

“Miss Jones?”

Professor Lupin was smiling kindly at her, standing to the side of the closet.

“Don’t be afraid, dear, it’ll only make it stronger.”

Breathing in, trying to hide how much her wand was shaking, she turned to the closet.

The steady rattling subsided, until it stood there looking like an ordinary closet. A hush descended upon the class as they watched the wardrobe still.

Megan couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, even her thoughts frozen.

_Thunk. Thunk. Thuncrrrrk._

As the professor lifted is wand to unlock the door, she saw it.

“No…”

Silence.

The sound of splintering wood filled the classroom as an axe smashed through the closet, wrenching back leaving a gaping hole.

A face, half rotting, puss-stained and oozing shoved its way through, eyes rolling madly, an insane fever reflecting in them.

“Here’s Jonny!”

Distantly Megan could here screams as she scrambled back, a withered arm scrambling against the lock before it clicked and a man sized figure lurched out.

Only vaguely resembling the man from the movie, this Jonny looked like he’d been infected by something from the Thing. Yellow-brown liquid seeped from his limbs; his legs seemed to be merging into a single mass. His hair had fallen out, revealing gaping holes, irritated sores and blackened rashes. His arms were blood stained and hooked at the ends like some sort of claws.

The monster was moving too fast, Megan’s base instincts screaming at her to drop everything and run, that if it touched her, she’d be infected, or worse. Trying to run, a sick sensation sunk in her stomach as she fell to the ground. This was it. This is how she’d die, consumed by a hideous amalgamation of the worst things she’d ever seen.

“Riddikulus! Riddikulus!”

Distantly Megan registered that she should be saying that, and before she knew what she was doing she’d rolled on her back pointing her wand at It.

“Ri-riddikulus.”

It hesitated, jaw unhinged, and the tip of its tongue extended, just touching her wand. It shuddered, a revolting full-body spasm that wrecked it for what felt like forever, before it shrunk and shed its from to reveal a small, 2D mouse that squeaked and scurried back into the broken closet that slammed after it.

“Please please no.” Face damp, she turned to the teacher for help. “Don’t let it get out. Please don’t, I can’t- ”

“It’s okay Miss Jones, take a seat.” With a wave of his wand, the closet started to repair itself, chunks of wood floating before merging into a mass that seemed to glue itself to the front. A rushed job, certainly.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what was that Megan? Miss Jones?”

Megan found she couldn’t answer, horror choking her lungs and smothering her voice.

"The Redrum, I think. I-, please sir don't make me- "

Megan never explained to the rest of the class what the Redrum was, but looking at some of the other kids, like Granger and Wayne, she knew that at least some of them understood. 

Whoever said that reality was scarier than fiction had obviously not seen anything by Stephen King. 

**Author's Note:**

> Full credit goes to the creators of the movies. 
> 
> Also please tell me what your Boggart would be, I was constrained by what was available in 1993 but I think that kids of our generation could think of something scarier than a dementor.


End file.
